G*d I'm bored.
Why? Well work. Work is boring. Get another job? Well freelancing is a damage limitation exercise, all jobs destroy what you love about it in the first place...keeping my distance keeps me sane.
How'd I get here? Just a week over 2 years ago I quit my job with evil management consulting firm, PA Consulting (over the statute of limitations I think, and I don't actually care now) after a couple of years of psychological torture from my then boss and then his replacement; both tin pot / crack pot generals who found my dedication useful then screwed me over wwhen it suited them. Big company politics...and the accompanying HR zombies nearly drove me mad, literally.
After a holiday in South Africa, I'd decided that if I still felt the same way after I came back that I'd hand in my notice. And so I did, and I swore I'd not be beholden to another boss or company again; bosses were idiots not to be trusted, and that the dedication, jumping through hoops and 'free work' was a waste of time. I think it was a loss of innocence that we all go through, being indoctrinated that 'hard work will get you places' where the opposite is true. Hard work will get you at the bottom of the heap doing the work, because people who can't do anything get promoted but they do actually need someone to bully around (like my former boss at PA did; karma was that his long-term boyfriend left him; I'd guess because he put the company before his personal life) and do the work.
So being a good little worker is a curse.
Why am I discussing this now? Well it's the 2nd year anniversary, and I do need to remind myself of why I set myself adrift in the sea of freelance.
Because all the other options are far, far, far worse.
Why? Well work. Work is boring. Get another job? Well freelancing is a damage limitation exercise, all jobs destroy what you love about it in the first place...keeping my distance keeps me sane.
How'd I get here? Just a week over 2 years ago I quit my job with evil management consulting firm, PA Consulting (over the statute of limitations I think, and I don't actually care now) after a couple of years of psychological torture from my then boss and then his replacement; both tin pot / crack pot generals who found my dedication useful then screwed me over wwhen it suited them. Big company politics...and the accompanying HR zombies nearly drove me mad, literally.
After a holiday in South Africa, I'd decided that if I still felt the same way after I came back that I'd hand in my notice. And so I did, and I swore I'd not be beholden to another boss or company again; bosses were idiots not to be trusted, and that the dedication, jumping through hoops and 'free work' was a waste of time. I think it was a loss of innocence that we all go through, being indoctrinated that 'hard work will get you places' where the opposite is true. Hard work will get you at the bottom of the heap doing the work, because people who can't do anything get promoted but they do actually need someone to bully around (like my former boss at PA did; karma was that his long-term boyfriend left him; I'd guess because he put the company before his personal life) and do the work.
So being a good little worker is a curse.
Why am I discussing this now? Well it's the 2nd year anniversary, and I do need to remind myself of why I set myself adrift in the sea of freelance.
Because all the other options are far, far, far worse.